2023 was a memorable year for Indian sport. As it always is with sport in this country, it wasn't always for all the right reasons. A year that will always be remembered as the one in which India broke the 100-medal barrier at the Asian Games for the first time will also be remembered as one that had its fair share of controversy and unpleasant happenings outside of sporting arenas.
ESPN India summarises 2023 with some of the best quotes from Indian sport this year.
In January, Sania Mirza played her last Grand Slam, and as fate would have it, she went all the way to the mixed doubles final, alongside Rohan Bopanna. A special journey didn't quite end with the success that they would've so craved, but Sania was revelling in the moment nonetheless.
"I never thought I'd be able to play a grand slam final in front of my child, so it's truly special for me," she said.
At the Men's Hockey World Cup in Odisha in January, German captain Mats Grambusch wore a rainbow armband as a mark of showing his and his team's support for the LGBT community. Events from the FIFA World Cup just a couple of months before didn't matter.
"We were sure we were going to wear it. It doesn't matter what the football players are doing. It's different in hockey," he told ESPN India.
The Germans weren't just making news off the field. On it, they became world champions. They trailed 0-2 in every knockout game they played, and yet they managed to come back and win all of them. For their dragflick specialist, it was sometimes too much to take.
"I told the boys, 'f***, my heart is exploding, can we win before the last seconds?'" Gonzalo Peillat exclaimed after they beat Australia 3-2 in the semifinal.
The Indian heartbreaks at the Men's Hockey World Cup didn't stop, with a shootout loss to New Zealand this time dashing the hopes of Harmanpreet Singh's side. Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh though had a clear message to his fans who might have feared an end to his international career.
"Definitely, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, don't worry," he said. He lived up to his words as well, as he was part of the gold medal-winning, Paris Olympics-qualifying Indian team at the Hangzhou Asian Games later in the year.
June and July were great months to be an Indian Football fan, as the national team won two tournaments on home soil - the Intercontinental Cup in Bhubaneswar and then the SAFF Championship in Bengaluru. After they beat Lebanon 2-0 in the Intercontinental Cup final, one might have excused Igor Stimac for a bit of hyperbole.
"This is the best Indian 45 minutes in the last five decades I think," he said as India produced a second half performance in the final worthy of winning the championship.
The skipper, meanwhile, wouldn't have liked it any other way during those couple of months, as Indian Football entered the nation's collective conscious for a couple of weeks.
"It's an absolute honour, a privilege to be Sunil Chhetri," India's all-time leading goal-scorer said as he entered the 90s in terms of goals scored in international football.
"We should introduce Neymar to Mumbai favourites like Vada-pav," the then Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham said after they were drawn to face Saudi giants Al Hilal in the AFC Cup group stage.
Come early November, when Al Hilal came to town, Neymar had a knee injury that ruled him out for the whole season, and then Al Hilal put six past the ISL side. That might qualify as things not going to plan for Buckingham.
And then there were the Asian Games. 107 medals. Way more stories than that. Some sweet, some with a tinge of bitterness attached to it. Like Aditi Ashok, who had a wretched final round that took her from a sure-shot gold medal to silver.
"I'm sure some day I'll look back and think it was a good week, but silver is not better than gold," she said after she let a seven-stroke lead slip on the final day.
Saurav Ghosal, meanwhile, won his ninth medal of the Asian Games, but the men's singles gold continued to evade him. Will he be back for another shot at Nagoya in 2026?
"Things are still very raw. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't [his last Asian Games]. If it is, I know that I gave it my best shot. I did everything. I trained as hard as I could. If I do walk away into the sunset, I can walk away a proud man," he said.
Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Kumar Jena produced a battle for the ages at the Asian Games Men's javelin throw final. At one point, Jena was even ahead of Chopra. But as the Olympic and World Champion does, Chopra embraced the challenge and produced a season's best throw to defend his Asian Games crown. "Mujhe pata tha bhaisahab kar lenge [I knew sir (Neeraj) would do it]," Jena would go on to say after the final. "Mazza aa gaya ek dusre ko push kar rahe the [It was fun that we were pushing each other]," Chopra said.
As India's lead singles player in the team event where they won silver, HS Prannoy had injured his back then, which meant he couldn't play in the final. However, he delved into his reserves of grit and endurance to brave that pain and play the individual event, where he won the bronze medal.
"I'm not at all in a condition where I could say I am 80 per cent right," Prannoy would later go on to say.
"In our UP, it takes a gold medal to get you the post of DSP. I hope this effort gets me that position." These are not words you expect after a final kick for the ages on the home stretch, but Parul Chaudhary refreshing honesty won as many hearts as her 5000m gold medal itself.
And last, but certainly not least, each of these words from Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, who fought the most important battle of any Indian athlete in 2023.